Popovich named 2011-12 NBA Coach of the Year

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was honored Tuesday as the 2012 winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2011-12 NBA Coach of the Year.

Popovich totaled 467 points, including 77 first-place votes, from a panel of 119 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

It was his second time winning the award. Popovich, who turned 63 in January, previously won the award in 2002-03, when he was the last coach to win a championship during the season he was honored.

‘To be singled out amongst so many wonderful coaches in our league is a humbling experience,” said Popovich, who is in his 16th season as the head coach of the Spurs.

Popovich led the Spurs to a 50-16 record which was tied with Chicago for the best in the league. The Spurs ranked second in the league in scoring (103.7 points per game) and points-differential (7.2). They also finished the regular season with a 10-game winning streak and a 26-6 record that was the best in the league.

“I know, full well, that (my assistants) and (general manager) R.C. Buford should be accepting this award,” Popovich said.

The longest-tenured coach with the same team in all four major professional sports, Popovich holds the best winning percentage of the longest tenured coaches in the other three major professional sports (.679).

He said the lockout-shortened season caused him to tweak his coaching philosophy. The Spurs relied more on the institutional knowledge of veteran players as they practiced less than in previous seasons.

“We had to be a little bit more simple,” Popovich said. ” ‘Less is more’ was a big motto for us this year because we couldn’t get in all that we would have liked to have gotten in.

“We became more of an offensively oriented team as we’ve evolved. But other than that, principles we’ve lived and the things we pay attention to have remained the same.”